Tucker Carlson's glory days are over, and his new episodic Twitter show is the evidence of his fall from grace.
First off, make no mistake: Carlson still gets the views. Within eight hours of his livestream hitting the Twitterverse on June 6, the former Fox News primetime host's 10-minute monologue received more than 11.2 million views.
—Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023
But Twitter-stream Carlson was a shadow of his former self. Sitting in what looked like a cabin in the woods, with metal tools hung up on wooden shelves, Carlson looked like he was broadcasting from a terribly constructed horror-movie set.
Sure, some elements of Primetime Carlson were still intact, like the perpetual frown, the propensity for sweeping statements, and the general delivery style.
His discussion topics of choice were largely unchanged, too: He laid into the Black Lives Matter movement, segued into a 9/11 conspiracy-theory section, criticized trans women, and ranted about UFOs.
But "Tucker on Twitter" is not "Tucker Carlson Tonight." There aren't any flashy chyrons or quick cuts. And Carlson — stripped down, in his little wood-filled cabin — for once, looks vulnerable.
"It's wild to see what a fish out of water he is on the internet: no jump cuts, no background music, no catchy thumbnail or video title. Not sure how he's going to stack up against even an average streamer or youtuber," the journalist Taylor Lorenz tweeted.
"I kid you not but Tucker Carlson's first episode of his new Twitter show - basically him doing a monologue & scrolling through his own teleprompter - said we should be asking more questions about what happened on 9/11 & insisted we have proof that UFOs are real," MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan tweeted. "Poor Alex Jones has some tough new online competition. Watch out!"
Hasan and Lorenz are right. Carlson is the new kid on the streaming block, and he must compete with the rest of them.
His new competition includes Steve Bannon, ranting from his "War Room." The white supremacist and onetime Kanye West associate Nick Fuentes and his hateful, antisemitic rants. Dan Bongino, of "Unfiltered" fame. And, of course, Alex Jones, who screams about gay frogs while selling snake-oil dietary supplements.
And right now, Carlson's losing.
